Enterprise resource planning (“ERP”) systems have made tracking resources and planning resource use easier. These interactive systems provide immediate information about resources which may be used to better service customers. In addition, the ERP system may store data in a different manner than many systems, such as storing actual total amounts rather than storing formulas to calculate total amounts. ERP systems have report generating abilities that make it easy to visualize the data in the ERP system.
Database systems have been around even longer than ERP systems. Database systems store large amounts of data in a way that is easy to search and manipulate. Data is usually stored as individual entries and totals usually do not have their own entry but are calculated as needed by adding up the individual elements from the database. As database systems have been around for a significant period of time, the ability to create reports is refined.